5.  The applicants were born in 1973, 1977, 1975 and 1975 respectively. The first applicant lives in Antakya and the third applicant lives in Adana. The second and fourth applicants were in Kandıra Prison at the time of making their applications.
6.  On various dates the applicants were arrested and subsequently placed in pre-trial detention in Ümraniye Prison in Istanbul, with the exception of the first applicant Süleyman Gülbahar, who was placed in Gebze prison.
7.  On 19 December 2000 a security operation was conducted at the Ümraniye Prison and a number of other prisons, including Gebze Prison, where the first applicant was being detained. During the operation scores of detainees were killed and hundreds injured. After the operation a decision was made to transfer the detainees to other prisons.
8.  According to an indictment prepared on 29 March 2004, a prosecutor in the Üsküdar district of Istanbul asked the Üsküdar Assize Court to prosecute a total of 267 members of the security forces for ill-treating and killing a number of prisoners during the operations carried out in the prisons between 19 and 22 December 2000. The names of the second, third and fourth applicants are listed as having been ill-treated among the 408 victims.
9.  The first applicant, who was on his 235th day of hunger strike in protest against the attacks on the detainees during the operations of 19 December 2000, was transferred from Gebze Prison to Kandıra F-type Prison on 27 July 2001.
10.  On arrival at Kandıra Prison he was kept waiting in the prisoner-transport van for a number of hours before he was taken into the prison where he was put in a room on his own.
11.  While in that room the first applicant, who refused to take off his clothes, was stripped naked by soldiers, who were wearing gloves, and subjected to an internal body search. During the search he was punched by the soldiers. He was then told to put his clothes back on.
12.  He was then stripped by prison guards down to his pants and had to move from one office to another in that condition to complete his prison registration process. He was then dragged into his cell.
13.  The same day the first applicant informed a doctor about his ordeal but the doctor did not examine him because of the applicant’s hunger strike. The doctor then gave his reason for not examining the applicant, saying that the applicant “would die of his own accord anyway so there was no point in getting someone else into trouble”. According to a report drawn up by that doctor the same day, “[the applicant] was on his 230th day of hunger strike and a physical examination did not reveal any findings”.
14.  On 15 August 2001 the first applicant, with the assistance of his lawyer, submitted a formal complaint to the prosecutor’s office, informed the prosecutor of the ill-treatment to which he had been subjected and asked the prosecutor to identify and prosecute those responsible. He and his lawyer also asked, unsuccessfully, for him to be referred to the Forensic Medicine Institute for a detailed medical examination.
15.  The first applicant was released from the prison on 9 October 2001.
16.  On 26 April 2002 the Kandıra prosecutor decided not to prosecute anyone in relation to the allegations of ill-treatment made by the first applicant and 42 other detainees. In his decision the prosecutor referred to a decision not to prosecute that had been given on 16 July 2001, in which similar complaints had already been examined and found to be unsubstantiated.
17.  The first applicant lodged a formal objection to the decision on 20 May 2002 and pointed to the fact that, when the decision not to prosecute of 16 July 2001 was adopted, he had not even been transferred to Kandıra Prison. Referring to Article 3 of the Convention, the first applicant argued in his petition setting out the grounds for his objections that the prosecutor had failed to carry out an effective investigation into his allegations of ill-treatment.
18.  On 11 June 2002 the objection lodged by the first applicant against the decision not to prosecute was rejected by the Sakarya Assize Court, which considered that the prosecutor’s decision had been “in compliance with the applicable legislation”.
19.  The second applicant was transferred from Ümraniye Prison to Kandıra F-type Prison on 22 December 2000.
20.  While being transferred to Kandıra Prison he was beaten up in the transport van. On his arrival at the prison he was put in a room on his own, stripped, punched, kicked, the soles of his feet were beaten, and he was raped with a stick. He was then subjected to a cursory examination by a doctor, who did not even ask him any questions.
21.  According to a medical report prepared the same day there was an ecchymosed area with oedema on the left of his torso and a number of other ecchymosed areas and cuts on his back. There were also cuts and grazes on the lower extremity (legs).
22.  A few days after he was brought to Kandıra Prison the second applicant submitted a written complaint to the prosecutor and informed the prosecutor of his allegations. His lawyer presented another complaint to the prison prosecutor and told the prosecutor that his client’s body bore a number of injuries and that he had been raped with a stick. The lawyer asked the prosecutor to have his client examined at the Forensic Medicine Institute. The prosecutor told the lawyer that he had witnessed the transfer of the prisoners and that everything had been normal. The prosecutor said that that was the only way to deal with terrorists.
23.  After he was placed in Kandıra Prison the second applicant suffered health problems as a result of having been raped with the stick. On one occasion, when he went to bed, he realised that he had been bleeding and was taken to Kocaeli State Hospital.
24.  On 25 and 28 December 2000 the second applicant and his lawyer made unsuccessful requests for him to be examined by a doctor at the Forensic Medicine Institute so that the injuries caused by the rape would be recorded in a medical report. These requests were rejected by the prison prosecutor who was of the view that “the authorities could not be expected to refer everyone to the Forensic Medicine Institute just like that”. Nevertheless, the second applicant was finally examined by a forensic doctor at the prison infirmary on 9 January 2001. According to the report drawn up after that examination, there were no torn areas in the anus and there was no sign of penetration. The tissue inside the anus was intact.
25.  The prosecutors gave three decisions not to prosecute anyone in relation to the second applicant’s allegations. According to the decision given on 16 July 2001, there was no evidence in support of the second applicant’s allegations. In the decision of 20 November 2001 the prosecutor relied on the decision not to prosecute which had been given on 16 July 2001. In the decision given on 26 April 2002 the prosecutor stated that there was no evidence in support of the second applicant’s allegations.
26.  The second applicant lodged objections to the decisions; these were rejected on 27 February 2002 and 11 June 2002 on the ground that the decisions had been in compliance with domestic legislation.
27.  The third applicant was transferred from Ümraniye Prison to Kandıra F-type Prison on 22 December 2000.
28.  While being transferred to Kandıra Prison the third applicant was beaten up in the transport van. On his arrival at the prison he was stripped, punched and kicked and the ill-treatment continued for hours, even after he was placed in his cell. The injuries on various parts of his body and head were recorded by a doctor in a medical report on 23 December 2000. According to this report, there were hyperaemic (congestion of blood) areas on the back of his body, neck, left shoulder, and wrists. There were also cuts and grazes on both wrists.
29.  The third applicant was released from prison on 28 June 2001.
30.  The complaints made by the third applicant were rejected by the prosecutor on 16 July 2001 and 20 November 2001. The objections lodged against those decisions were rejected on 27 February 2002.
31.  The fourth applicant was transferred from Ümraniye Prison to Kandıra F-type Prison on 22 December 2000.
32.  While being transferred to Kandıra Prison the fourth applicant was beaten up in the transport van. On his arrival at the prison he was stripped, punched in the face and kicked. The ill-treatment continued for hours, even after he was placed in his cell. As a result of the ill-treatment a number of his teeth were broken. The injuries on various parts of his body and head were recorded by a doctor in a report on 23 December 2000. According to this report, there were a large number of lesions on his nose and other parts of his face. His nose had been bleeding and there were also a number of cuts and other injuries on the insides of his lips. There was a congestion of blood (hyperaemia) on his face, lesions on the chest and back of his body and cuts and grazes on the lower extremity (legs).
33.  The complaints made by the fourth applicant were rejected by the prosecutor on 27 July 2001 and 20 November 2001. The objections lodged against these decisions were rejected on 27 February 2002.
34.  In the meantime, the fourth applicant was released from prison on 24 January 2002.